Dana Point, Calif.

Frequent travelers to Las Vegas likely have become devotees of Michael Mina dining experiences. There are four Mina restaurants in Vegas, two inside the MGM Grand, one at Bellagio, yet another at Mandalay Bay.

As the Mina collection expands so, too, does his client demographic reach beyond conventioneers and gamblers. We recently visited Mina’s Stonehill Tavern, the ultimate dining option inside the elegant St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort. Far from the Vegas neon glow, the property sits majestically above the California coastline between Los Angeles and San Diego.  At Stonehill, not only is the menu, the service and the room well above exceptional, it is a gold mine for wine collectors who travel with bottles from their personal cellars.

Punta de Mita, Nayarit, Mexico

As incomprehensible as it seems today, it was considered wildly adventurous as recently as 15 years ago to travel to Cabo San Lucas on the tip of the Baja Peninsula.  

I was reminded of this a few weeks ago when planning a winter escape to Puerto Vallarta. We had been to crowded Cancun and were not inclined to return. Cozumel is nice (we stopped during a 2007 cruise) but getting there requires flying to Cancun, and seats were dwindling fast. We’d just been to Cabo in 2005.

The one destination with ample mid-January flights still available was Puerto Vallarta. Never been there, so why not, we agreed. But a well traveled friend quickly steered us away. The place to go, he said, is Punta Mita, just northwest of traffic snarled, pollution choked PVR. Punta Mita?

San Diego

The developer of the newly unveiled southern California resort, The Grand Del Mar, apparently has a reputation for rejecting mere opulence as not quite good enough. I am not sure I want to work for the gentleman (Douglas Manchester), but there is no arguing against what that attitude has wrought.

A $300 million-plus project, according to the Los Angeles Times, that opened last fall, The Grand Del Mar conjures many superlatives. Old World. Upscale. Luxurious. And, dare we say, opulent. (Even so, a few areas are in their final stages of completion and some landscaping is not done yet).